Core memory technology first appeared in the early 1950s, and it transformed computing. Some very clever people figured out a way to create tiny rings

So Begins Core Memory - A New Sci-Tech Media Company

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2025-01-13 11:30:08

Core memory technology first appeared in the early 1950s, and it transformed computing. Some very clever people figured out a way to create tiny rings of magnetic material and have each one of them store a single bit of information – a 0 or a 1, depending on a ring’s polarity. Many of these rings were then painstakingly handwoven together by threading wires through the miniscule donuts to form a memory mesh. The technology made memory more reliable, larger and faster and paved the way for a new era of much more powerful computers.

The core memory on display at the museum is flat out beautiful to look at, and it represents much of what I love about science and technology. It took curiosity and genius to figure out the underlying principles that make the memory possible and then perseverance, creativity, solid engineering and human touch to form the memory into a working product. All this effort unleashed something new and grand and helped foment an information revolution.

For the last two decades, I’ve been chronicling advances such as these and the people behind them for publications like The Economist, The New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek. Along with the stories, I’ve written best-selling books like Elon Musk’s biography, made an Emmy-nominated tech TV show watched by millions and produced films for HBO and Netflix. The goal has always been to bring the tales of complex technology and compelling people to the public and give them a path into exceptional and unusual worlds they would not normally have a chance to experience.